How would you ever know that “to lose a baby ostrich” means to rush into something without thinking? Or that “what can the wind take from the pavement?” is said when someone has nothing left to lose? This comprehensive guide to idiomatic expressions in literary Arabic, the first of its kind, will inform, amuse, and entertain, through more than 8500 entries found in texts from the Qur’an to today’s newspapers. With explanations in Arabic and English, it is an essential resource for both students of Arabic and native speakers. Reaching into the great wealth of this complex and intriguing language, the dictionary draws on and reveals the rich cultural and religious traditions of Arabic-speaking communities that have informed its idioms. Expressions of condolence, astonishment, and hardship, alongside sayings about friendship, miserliness, and reconciliation are collected and made accessible here, while glimpses are provided into history through phrases tied to important events and figures—from the ancient Egyptians to Saddam Hussein. Altogether this book allows a fascinating insight into Arabic’s many quirks and intricacies.

Aimed at the growing number of students studying Arabic worldwide, Kallimni ‘Arabi Aktar takes an innovative, functional approach to the study of Egyptian colloquial Arabic—the spoken dialect most frequently studied and most widely understood in the Arab world. Picking up where the previous title in this series, Kallimni ‘Arabi, leaves off, this volume is designed for adult students at the high-intermediate/low-advanced levels of language proficiency. Drawing on her years of experience as an Arabic instructor, author Samia Louis has developed a course rich in everyday cultural content and real-life functional language as well as comprehensive grammar. Written in accordance with the ACTFL guidelines for teaching Arabic as a foreign language, this highly structured course trains students in the crucial skills, with emphasis on listening and speaking.
Each chapter includes a conversation unit that enables students to improve their communication skills and allows for progressive acquisition of vocabulary and grammar through interactive classroom tasks and everyday situations, from expressing personal likes and dislikes to initiating conversations and describing events and experiences. The associated audio files carry recordings of each chapter’s dialogues and exercises, made by native Egyptian speakers to enrich the student’s exposure to the spoken language in its natural context and speed. Click here to listen to the modules on Soundcloud.